Woori Bank was caught the most in the banking sector for violating laws banning the creation of individual or corporate accounts using false names potentially for illicit transactions.Data by the Financial Supervisory Service presented to the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly on Sunday showed that Woori Bank broke the so-called Real Name Financial Transactions Law 72 times over the last three years.Kookmin Bank and SC Bank, both of which violated 31 times, and Shinhan Bank’s 29

Oct. 27, 2013

The Korean won is expected to strengthen against major currencies as foreign investors reallocate their funds from emerging markets with weak fundamentals such as Indonesia to economies with stable outlooks such as Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy.The won-dollar exchange rate rose 5.2 won to 1,061 won on Thursday as forex officials from the Bank of Korea and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance jointly intervened for the first time this year by openly expressing concerns over the rate “exces

Oct. 24, 2013

The Korean won is gaining ground over both the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen, increasing the potential of further weighing down export-dependent recovery efforts of Asia’s fourth-largest economy.The won-dollar exchange edged near the 1,050 won line on Wednesday, leading lawmakers to urgently alert monetary policymakers to intervene to keep the rate from falling below the psychological and marginal threshold of 1,000 won.Increased demand for the local currency led the exchange rate to further

Oct. 23, 2013

The Fair Trade Commission said Monday that it has ordered two coffee chain operators to correct misleading information given to their nationwide franchise partners.Coffine Gurunaru and Herry’s were found to have provided incorrect information to their partners regarding sales forecasts as a means to expand the number of outlets, the FTC said.They provided “unrealistic and overblown” sales projections when their partners open the stores within a certain period of time.For instance, Coffine Guruna

Industry Oct. 21, 2013

Chiefs of Korea’s Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service may face investigation by the prosecution over Tong Yang Group’s liquidity crisis. The Financial Consumer Agency said on Thursday that it would file a complaint with the prosecution against FSC Chairman Shin Je-yoon and FSS Gov. Choi Soo-hyun for their “incompetence and negligence” in preemptively dealing with the conglomerate and preventing investor losses.The agency added that the financial regulators had known a

Oct. 17, 2013

Korea’s stock market continued to see an inflow of overseas capital, hitting a record of 35 straight days of foreign investment in Seoul shares, according to the Korea Exchange on Thursday.A last-minute bipartisan deal over the U.S. federal debt-ceiling that also ended a government shutdown spurred foreign funds into Asia’s fourth largest economy where the benchmark KOSPI rose 0.29 percent to 2,040.61.The KOSPI surpassed 2050 points during intraday trading. Retail and institutional investors con

Oct. 17, 2013

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission said on Tuesday that it imposed punitive measures on the four biggest daily deal-site operators for their “deceptive” marketing.The antitrust regulator levied a combined penalty fine of close to 100 million won ($93,000) against the four major social commerce companies: Coupang, We Make Price, Ticket Monster and Groupon.The four were punished by the authority for posting false information including prices of products that were not included as part of their daily dea

Industry Oct. 15, 2013

Failure to reach a bipartisan agreement over the federal debt ceiling of the world’s largest economy would be “catastrophic” and trigger a “worldwide crisis,” global financial leaders warned.Korea would not be an exception to this emerging scenario as the deadline to the debt limit negotiations looms large this week with no clear signs of the two parties securing a deal in sight, analysts said.Although the U.S. has never defaulted on its debt over the last 224 years of its history, failing to ra

Oct. 14, 2013

Spending by the country’s 64 pension funds and other state operational funds is expected to reach a record of more than 500 trillion won next year amid increased welfare costs. In a report to the National Assembly on Thursday, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that such spending would reach 517.4 trillion won next year, up 4 percent from 497.5 trillion won this year.This comes as the government is not able to financially support various projects with its tax revenue as it faces a revenue

Oct. 10, 2013

Deposits by the rich in private banking accounts reached a record of over 150 trillion won ($139 billion) in the first half of this year.In a report to the National Policy Committee lawmakers of the National Assembly on Wednesday, the Financial Supervisory Service, the country’s financial regulator, said that some 2,600 people in the top income bracket deposited a total of 153.5 trillion won into their private banking accounts in the first half of 2013.Private banking deposits increased about 21

Oct. 9, 2013

The National Pension Service has allocated more than half of its domestic equity investments into major blue chips of the country’s four largest family-run conglomerates, according to NPS data.Its investments in shares of units of Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK and LG, worth some 40.7 trillion won ($37 billion), accounted for more than 54 percent of the pension fund’s equity portfolio as of the end of July.The NPS’ investment in debt securities of those four chaebol worth 9.6 trillion won accounted

Oct. 9, 2013

Credit spending on pets increased sharply last year due to purchases by people living alone without kids, the Credit Finance Association said Monday.There were more than 10 million Koreans living with an animal companion as of the end of August this year.Their spending via credit cards for pet products such as food and veterinary products amounted to more than 83.1 billion won in August this year, up about 12 percent from July this year.Their credit spending increased about 21 percent year-on-ye

Oct. 7, 2013